playing poker and teaching science

About Me

I'm a middle school science teacher, wrestling coach, poker player, scuba diver, aikido black belt, amateur writer, and student of life. I also try to give back a little by volunteering for a month or so each summer at a children's home in Belmopan, Belize, Central America.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Spring Break!

Monday, March 26, 2012

100 things about me.

I saw a blog post somewhere and it listed 100 things about the writer so, being an introspective being, I began to wonder if I could think of 100 things to write about myself. Here goes:

100. I'm now in my 50's and I think I've had a pretty good life. I don't worry about dying at all.99. I graduated from a public high school in Middletown, Indiana.98. I've lived in Indiana my entire life, except for a year in Rock Springs, Wyoming after my sophomore year of college.97. I have a bachelor's degree from Ball State University in the fields of journalism and geology.96. I've always wanted to be a professional writer.95. I used to draw a comic strip called "Sam Spud - Private Eye."94. I have one son who just turned 25.93. I was pretty fat when I was a little kid.92. I'm not fat now.91. Except for my house, I have no debt..90. I graduated from Ball State University.89. My mother and father have both passed away so I guess that makes me an orphan.88. I do volunteer work at a children's home in Belize.87. I spent two summers training Belizean teachers on science activities.86. I'm a winning poker player.85. I vividly remember my twin bother and sister being born in the bedroom next to mine when I was seven years old.84. I have completely supported myself financially since I left home for college when I was 18.83. I paid for all my own college education.82. I have received two Fulbright scholarships.81. I have received two Eli Lilly teacher creativity fellowships.80. I love to travel and I've been to China, Japan, and all over Central America, but have not been to Europe.79. I'm bald, like almost all the men in my family, and it doesn't bother me at all.78. I am the second of five kids in my family.77. One of my pet peeves is sitting still on a road made to move traffic quickly and efficiently.76. I was captain of my wrestling team in high school.75. I've coached wrestling for 21 years.74. I'm often one of the smartest people in the room.73. I have only a few close friends.72. I prefer small groups to large crowds.71. I love to read and am usually in the middle of a novel.70. My very favorite author is Andrew Vachss.69. I enjoy historical novels set in ancient Japan.68. I write very well.67. I prefer things that make sense mathematically.66. My first grade teacher was Mrs. Monday.65. I played nose guard in high school football.64. I love eating at Buffalo Wild Wings.63. Bud Light is my favorite beer.62. I like very old rum.61. I don't like smokey places.60. I was once named a Governor's Fellow and as such worked with scientists at AT&T's Bell Labs.59. On a whim, I once flew into Cancun and took the bus south through Mexico and walked across the border into Belize and then took buses in Belize to Belmopan. I probably wouldn't do that again.58. I believe life is all about having good stories to tell.57. I've skydived about 13 times.56. I know how to Eskimo roll a kayak.55. I once got pinned upside down on a rock in a river in my kayak and thought I might drown.54. I had 126 in my high school graduating class.53. I was Master of Ceremonies for a talent show my senior year of high school and wrote all my jokes at an ice cream shop an hour before it started.52. I worked as a waiter in the Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone National Park the summer after my freshman year of college.51. I owned a Triumph Spitfire that had the steering wheel on the right-hand side.50. For several months in college the only transportation I owned was a motorcycle.49. I prefer pie to cake.48. My favorite pie is apple47. I enjoy ice cream of any flavor.46. As a teen I baled hay as a summer job.45. My first "real" job was serving ice cream at a place called Bert T. Owens.44. I took my Bert T. Owens shirt and had the name Bert printed on the back.43. I was phased out of my job at Bert T. Owens.42. While working at Bert T. Owens I learned that you shouldn't date the boss' daughter.41. In high school I met, and went out with an older girl on a Friday night, and got a call from her fiance the next day.40. I became a wrestler in high school simply because a senior stopped and talked to me and said I should give it a try.39. I bought my first car when I was a sophomore in college.38. My first car was a VW Beetle and it cost $200. It had one headlight and one tail light.37. Three weeks after I bought my first car, three of us drove it to Rock Springs, Wyoming.36. For the year I lived in Wyoming I worked in a shop where we repaired the tools they use to drill oil wells.35. I started a major in geology as a result of my work in Wyoming.34. I put myself through Ball State selling advertising for the Ball State Daily News.33. For six months I was in charge of the advertising design department doe the BSU Daily News.32. I won several national awards for advertising design and page layout.31. I wrote a column in college called "Assorted Reedings."30. While riding my bicycle in fourth grade I got hit by an egg thrown from a moving car.29. I was in chess club in high school.28. I played an English gentleman in a play my senior year.27. I ran track one year and threw the discuss.26. I once cut 15 pounds in three days to go to a lower weight class in wrestling.25. I have a black belt in the Japanese martial art of Aikido.24. Without raising a hand, I stopped a stalker who was trying to assault a woman.23. I went to my junior prom with an exchange student from the Philippines. She was the only person of color there. I didn't even realize it until years later.22. I ran the steps up the Mayan pyramid ChichanItza just like in the Reebok commercial.21. I hiked through 13 gates on the Great Wall of China.20. I rode a zip line across a lake on the way down from the Great Wall.19. I'm a very good science teacher.18. I enjoy my job immensely.17. I own a handgun, but have only fired it on one occasion.16. I like to fish.15. I learned to spear fish last year and successfully spear a trigger fish.14. I am very introspective. Nobody knows me as well as I do.13. I own a motorcycle that I bought brand new in 2004.12. I had a great dog for 14 years and she died last year.11. As a kid I raised hamsters.10. I owned a dog named John L. Sullivan.9. My number one sports hero is Muhammad Ali.8. My mother died of pulmonary fibrosis exacerbated by smoking. No one in my family will ever smoke.7. I won a Splash Dance radio by answering a radio trivia question about the movie Psycho.6. I know all the words to the Gilligan's Island theme song.5. In Wyoming I had a silver ring made with a jack-a-lope on it. I lost the ring when I went back to Ball State.4. I was selected for "The Right Stuff" award at space camp for educators by NASA/Honeywell representatives.3. I have several published works.2. I was once lost for several hours on foot in a mountain snowstorm.1. I have swam naked in a burnt out geyser.

Friday, March 09, 2012

We are the champions!

This is the first year for Mid Indiana Conference wrestling tournament and my team won after a long, hard-fought day on the mat. We ended the day with four champions, one second place, and an amazing 11 third place finishers. Out of 20 wrestlers, 16 finished in the top three. I couldn't be prouder of how hard they've worked this year!